REPRESENTING THE POOR WHITE: PHOTOGRAPHS, ENCOUNTERS, AND WHITENESS.
This paper examines historical researchers’ visual methods and argues that photographs, particularly those found in archives, are profoundly complicated by racial assumptions. It demonstrates this through a discussion of early twentieth-century photographs of ‘poor whites’ used by philanthropic orga...
| Publicado en: | South African Journal of Cultural History / Suid-Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Kultuurgeskiedenis Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 104 - 127 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
South African Society for Cultural History
Jun2024
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | This paper examines historical researchers’ visual methods and argues that photographs, particularly those found in archives, are profoundly complicated by racial assumptions. It demonstrates this through a discussion of early twentieth-century photographs of ‘poor whites’ used by philanthropic organisations in the United States of America and in South Africa. It argues that photographs of poor whites were, and still are, part of the discursive construction of race. The article suggests how new approaches to viewing photographs, such as the work of Ariela Azoulay, might point the way forward for historical researchers. As a case study, the article shows how the racial representation of ‘poor whites’ changed throughout the twentieth century and offers a reading of these photographs using the techniques of Azoulay and others. Hierdie artikel dien as ontleding van die visuele metodes wat deur geskiedenisnavorsers gebruik is, en teoretiseer dat veral foto’s wat in argiewe te vinde is ten diepste deur rasvooroordele gekompliseer word. Dit word geïllustreer deur ’n bespreking van foto’s van “armblankes” van die vroeë 20ste eeu wat deur fi lantropiese organisasies in die VSA en Suid-Afrika gebruik is. Die skrywer voer aan dat foto’s van armblankes deel van die breedvoerige “konstruksie” van ras was, en dat dit steeds die geval is. Daar word aangevoer dat nuwe benaderings tot die manier waarop sulke foto’s geïnterpreteer word-soos in die werk van Ariela Azoulay-die toekomstige weg vir geskiedenisnavorsers kan aandui. As gevallestudie word aangetoon hoe die rasseuitbeelding van armblankes deur die loop van die 20ste eeu verander het, en dit bied ’n vars blik op daardie foto’s deur van Azoulay en ander se tegnieke in te span. |
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